Never Again
by Sarsalot
Summary: Sequel to Linna's Thoughts. Jes' POV, angst, sadness. PG13 to be safe. Disclaimer:Obernewtyn and all characters etc are copyright Isobelle Carmody(this'll go in the story when MW stops being broken.)


_Sequel to Linna's thought's._

Never Again 

"Ma! Ma!" Elf was screaming, as I was.

"Mother! Da!" She broke free, running for the pillar of flame that had engulfed our parents. 

A soldierguard roughly pushed her back, and I pulled her away, pressing her face to my chest. _Don't look. Don't look, little sister._

My parents were dying. I felt my mother's mind slip away, her dying caress. My father felt it too, and followed, the mindstream engulfing them both.

"No!"

I wept then, knowing it was useless, I was useless, and a fierce self-loathing consumed me.

Elspeth was hiccupping between tears now, too tired to scream anymore. Perhaps she realised, as I did, that it was hopeless. Our parents could not hear out screams now.

"Come along now." A burly guard plucked Elf from my grasp, not unkindly. But he held her at arm's length, and I could feel the fear in him, the fear of a misfit's child.

Elspeth stiffened in outrage as he hoisted her into the back of a nearby wagon, and I could feel her readying herself to attack, to pour out her rage and grief upon whomever was nearest.

"No Elf!" I sent, and the force of my sending was such that she stumbled backwards and sat down, hard; an expression of bewilderment crossing her face, for I rarely sent to anyone, and I had certainly never ordered her in such a manner not to use her Talents before.

I allowed myself to be lifted into the wagon with her, shaken by the force Elspeth had so nearly unleashed upon the soldierguard.

I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into my lap, and she began to cry softly again, looking up at me in confusion.

"No, bairn." I whispered softly, rocking her. "You must never do so again. I will not lose you. I will not let them send you to the fires, as they did Ma and Da."

Elf sent to me, her little face hopeful. There were no words to her mental touch, only a longing for the comfort I wanted to give. Should have given. But I closed my mind to her, thought it broke my heart that I must be deaf and dumb to her.

"No, Elf." I whispered, holding her still tighter.

"No. Never again."

The wagon creaked, shifted, and began to roll forward. To Sutrium, and the sentence that must surely be our doom.

***

The crowded streets were silent, people staring up at us in fear as we rolled by, faces stinging from the foul dye the Herders had rubbed into our skin as we had waited in the cold pre-dawn to be taken to witness our parent's Burning.

Did they expect us to suddenly race and froth at the mouth, like mad dogs? I wondered.

It would do little good, whatever they expected, for our hands were bound behind us. The thick rope had been wound three times about our writs, and Elf's tiny forearms were almost completely engulfed by it. As if a child her size, and marked as she was, could do any harms, or get far in the unlikely event of her thinking of escape.

Any damage she caused would be with the mind, I thought, shuddering as I remembered the soldierguard she had so nearly attacked just that morning. And Elspeth's Talents would not be bound or stopped by any mere physical rope.

The wagon jolted to a stop on the rough cobblestones outside what must have been the Councilcourt – an imposing building of red-brown stone, towering several stories above us.

Elspeth whimpered as our bonds were untied and an ugly, leering soldierguard set us on the ground. His hands lingered on Elf a moment too long, and I snatched her away as she reached for me, mindful of the warning my father had given me on previous trips to the city.

The soldierguard's face hardened, fingers caressing a short whip held in one hand.

He jerked his head to the side, gesturing at the Councilcourt, and I marched stiffly past, dragging Elf along beside me. I hesitated before the open doors, 'til the soldierguard gave me a rough poke in the back with his whip. "Move it along, boy."

I started forward again, as quickly as I could. I did not want either myself of Elf near the soldierguard, with his rough ways and coldly gleaming eyes.

He strode ahead of us for a moment opening a set of gleaming mahogany doors carved in geometric patterns.

The soldierguard presented a sheet of paper to the man seated at the head of the room, who must surely haven been a Councilman. He scanned it briefly and tucked it away inside his volumous robes, turning his attention to us. Elf quailed beside me and pressed her face into my side, her head only barely reaching above my waist.

"Jes and Elspeth Gordie, offspring of the recently executed Owyn and Linna Gordie, Burnt on charges of Sedition, of aiding and sheltering rebels, of concealing their unlawful state as Misfits, and of use of the Black Arts and forbidden Herb Lore.

'Their papers show an examination has proved them of possessing no defects of the body, and no obvious defects of the mind. It is recommended they are placed under the care of the Council and Herder Faction, until they are of age to be released if it is shown they possess no defects of the mind and remain unpossessed by demons of the kind that inhabited their parents."

He sighed loudly and looked around the courtroom.

"Do any here claim blood relation, and a willingness and ability to shoulder the care of these children? No?"

He banged a gravel down upon the table, the sound echoing in the high-beamed ceiling.

"I hereby pronounce that Jes and Elspeth Gordie are to be placed in the care of an orphanage, under the supervision of both the Council and the Herder Faction, until they are of age to be released into the community, having shown no sigh of physical or mental deformity. Have them escorted out to the orphanage."

I stood frozen, mind and body numb. We were truly orphan now, I realised. Nothing would ever be the same again. 

In silence we were taken out again, into the bright spring afternoon. We were shoved inside a rough, closed carriage, and Elspeth grabbed my hand, speaking for the first time since the events of the morning. Her voice was no more than a whisper.

"Where are they taking us, Jes? What's happening?"

I squeezed her hand, bowing my head so she would not see the tears that ran down my face. "They're taking us to an orphanage, Elf."

He face was pinched with worry. "Are we going home afterwards?"

I shook my head silently, as Elspeth leaned forward, peering up into my face, a tear slipping down my chin to fall on her upturned face.

"Why not?"

I shook my head, squeezing my eyes closed. "Jes?" She asked.   
I shook my head again, and finally found my voice. "We're orphans now, Elf. We belong there."


End file.
